Joint Statement: 2015 US-India Cyber Dialogue

In this White House file photo, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden listen to Lisa Monaco, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, during a Homeland Security Council meeting regarding immigration, in the Situation Room of the White House, July 21, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Aug. 14, 2015) — The White House Office of the Press Secretary issued a news release on the outcome of the United States and India global cybersecurity agreement.

Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, Lisa Monaco, met with Indian Deputy National Security Advisor Dr. Arvind Gupta in conjunction with the United States-India Cyber Dialogue. The leaders discussed a wide range of issues including cybersecurity, enhanced law enforcement cooperation, and U.S.-India collaboration against Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and other terrorist threats.

Building on the commitment that President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi made in New Delhi in January to make the U.S.-India partnership “a defining counterterrorism relationship for the 21st Century,” they agreed to deepen their already close collaboration on these issues.

To increase global cybersecurity and promote the digital economy, the United States and India have committed to robust cooperation on cyber issues. To that end, the United States and India met at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC on August 11 and 12 for the 2015 U.S.-India Cyber Dialogue.

The whole-of-government Cyber Dialogue, fourth in the series, was led by the U.S. Cybersecurity Coordinator and Special Assistant to the President Michael Daniel and by India’s Deputy National Security Advisor Arvind Gupta.

The Department of State Coordinator for Cyber Issues Christopher Painter and the Ministry of External Affairs Joint Secretary for Policy Planning, Counterterrorism, and Global Cyber Issues Santosh Jha co-hosted the Dialogue. U.S. whole-of-government participation included the Departments of State, Justice, Homeland Security, Treasury, and Commerce. The Indian government was represented by the National Cyber Security Coordinator at the National Security Council Secretariat, the Ministry of External Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology.

The delegations discussed a range of cyber issues including cyber threats, enhanced cybersecurity information sharing, cyber incident management, cybersecurity cooperation in the context of “Make in India,” efforts to combat cybercrime, Internet governance issues, and norms of state behavior in cyberspace.

The two delegations identified a variety of opportunities for increased collaboration on cybersecurity capacity-building, cybersecurity research and development, combatting cybercrime, international security, and Internet governance, and intend to pursue an array of follow-on activities to bolster their cybersecurity partnership and achieve concrete outcomes.

In addition to the formal Dialogue, the delegations met with representatives from the private sector to discuss issues related to cybersecurity and the digital economy. The Indian delegation also met with Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco.

The two countries decided to hold the next round of the Cyber Dialogue in Delhi in 2016.